AUSTRALIA: In Darwin, the largest city in the Northern Territory, workers digging for a new fence found the remains of a stone staircase, originally dating to the late 19th century (with a second phase in the mid-20th century), that led down from the center of town to the city’s port area. The path was known variously as Lover’s Walk, Lime Kiln Walk, and Chinese Walk. Victorian remains are rare in the city, which has been leveled by three cyclones and extensive bombing during World War II.—SAMIR S. PATEL

TONGA: A detailed study of 196 stone tools shows that the chiefdom that arose in the archipelago around 800 years ago was the center of a trade network that spanned Oceania. Two-thirds of the tools analyzed came from rock sources on other island groups, including Samoa, Fiji, and the Society Islands, some 1,500 miles away. Between A.D.1300 and 1500, cultures around the Pacific began to build monumental structures and see an increase in chiefly power. The Tongan trade network might explain how such traditions moved across such vast distances.—SAMIR S. PATEL